Hawthorne police officials defended their officers Tuesday against allegations that they violated a deaf man’s civil rights during his arrest last year.

A lawsuit filed last week by Jonathan Meister claims he was repeatedly shot with a Taser gun, kicked and punched as officers worked to handcuff him on suspicion of burglarizing a home on Feb. 13, 2013. Meister says the four officers who arrested him were insensitive to his deafness, ignored the fact that he uses his hands to communicate and were overly aggressive.

The arrest turned out to be a misunderstanding, as Meister was simply removing items he had stored in a friend’s backyard when a neighbor called police.

Hawthorne police Lt. Scott Swain said Tuesday that Meister’s decision to resist arrest was the problem, not a miscommunication.

“Hawthorne Police Department officers are trained to deal with incidents where communication, for various reasons, can sometimes be difficult,” Swain said in a written statement. “Some of these examples are: dealing with persons who speak a different language, are blind, deaf, in shock, and in many cases hostile, just to name a few.

“Officers make every effort to communicate effectively and bring every one of these incidents to a peaceful resolution. In almost all cases, it is the person’s behavior and actions who we contact that dictate police response rather than the communication barriers present. That is certainly the case in this specific matter.”

Meister’s suit is the second in a week alleging civil rights violations by officers with the Hawthorne Police Department. Leon Rosby alleges violations of civil rights, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress in a lawsuit filed Thursday over the fatal shooting of his pet Rottweiler last year.

That shooting was recorded by a witness on a cellphone camera, and the video was viewed millions of times online. The city and its Police Department faced severe public vitriol over the shooting, which occurred after the Rottweiler lunged at officers as they arrested Rosby.

The Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness is a co-plaintiff in Meister’s suit, which alleges that the Police Department failed “to provide effective communication to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, including himself, who come into contact and interact with the HPD, thereby discriminating against them.”

A neighbor saw Meister removing items from a backyard and called police when the man didn’t respond to calls. Two police officers arrived and attempted to handcuff Meister shortly after he walked up to them, waving his hands by his ears to indicate that he was deaf. Meister pulled away and ran back into the yard, according to police reports.

A five-minute struggle ensued, during which two other officers arrived and Meister was kicked, elbowed, punched, and shot with Taser guns and a “drive stun” until he stopped pushing officers away and they were able to arrest him.

In his written report of the incident, Officer Jeffrey Tysl said Meister became increasingly violent and agitated during the encounter. He described the man as approximately 6 feet 3 inches tall, 185 pounds and athletic.

“Meister continually pulled his wrists from our grasps and tried to turn toward us,” Tysl said. “Meister was flailing his arms towards us and would at times advance toward us.”

Meister was taken to Hawthorne’s jail, where it was determined that he had permission to be on the property and was simply removing his snowboarding equipment for a trip he was about to take. Police did not charge him with a crime and, while he was in custody, Meister wrote that he resisted officers because he’s claustrophobic, according to police reports released Tuesday.

“I didn’t mean to resist — it’s ultimately my responsibility,” Meister wrote. “But, with claustrophobia, logic gets pushed down a bit! I did not mean to resist, only to put space between myself and the officers so I could communicate.”

In another written statement Tuesday, Meister said Hawthorne officers broke a “level of understanding and trust” with the public when they arrested him.

“The arresting officers either did not have or did not choose to apply common sense to handling a non-threatening situation that could have been resolved in a few minutes.”

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